Home Office

Applications for British Citizenship – War Crimes Screening

Baroness Williams of Trafford: My hon Friend the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Future Borders and Immigration (Kevin Foster) has today made the following Written Ministerial Statement:I have made the Equality (War Crimes etc.) Arrangements 2020 and the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) (War Crimes etc.) Arrangements 2020 to enable a Home Office Minister to subject applications from certain nationalities for British citizenship to more rigorous scrutiny than others for the purposes of determining whether the applicant has committed, been complicit in the commission of, or otherwise been associated with, the commission of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide. The Equality (War Crimes etc.) Arrangements 2020 are made under paragraph (1)(1)(d) of Schedule 23 to the Equality Act 2010, and replace The Equality (War Crimes etc.) Arrangements 2013. The corresponding Race Relations (Northern Ireland) (War Crimes etc.) Arrangements 2020 are made under Article 40 paragraph 2(c) Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order 1997 and replace the Race Relations (Northern Ireland) (War Crimes etc.) Arrangements 2013. The condition for subjecting these applications to more rigorous scrutiny is the applicant is a national of a State specified on a list approved personally by a Home Office Minister for the purpose of the arrangements. I have reviewed and approved this list and I am satisfied the conditions set out in the arrangements are met in respect of the countries on the list. The arrangements will be reviewed on an annual basis and will remain in force until revoked. I will update Parliament when new arrangements are made. Copies of the arrangements will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses.

Leader of the House of Lords

Cabinet Committees

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park: My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister has made the following statement:Today I am publishing an updated Cabinet Committee list. I have placed a copy of the new list in the Libraries of both Houses.Cabinet Committees (docx, 6.5KB)

Publication of the Intelligence and Security Committee’s Reports on GCHQ Accommodation Procurement: A Case Study

Baroness Evans of Bowes Park: My Rt Hon Friend the Prime Minister has made the following statement:The Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament (ISC) has today laid before Parliament a report of the former Committee on GCHQ accommodation procurement: a case study, examining the procurement process for the National Cyber Security Centre’s (NCSC) London headquarters and the decision of the (then) Government in 2016 to approve Nova South as the location. We welcome the scrutiny that the Committee and the National Audit Office provide in order to ensure that the taxpayer receives the best value for money from investments made by the Security and Intelligence Agencies. The procurement of Nova South as the headquarters of the NCSC was a unique challenge, undertaken within a demanding timeframe and as a result, the Government acknowledges there are lessons that can be learned from the procurement process. We have noted the Committee’s recommendations and will respond to them in full in due course. The UK has never been better defended from cyber threats than it is today. The NCSC offers unprecedented analysis, response and reduction techniques to the growing cyber threat. The Government accepts that this report does not scrutinise the overall success of NCSC. However, as the public-facing part of GCHQ and the UK’s lead technical authority on cyber security, the NCSC required a workspace which balanced the need for accessibility and operational capability to defend the UK against cyber threats effectively. Nova South met all the key criteria required by Government, including proximity to Whitehall and other stakeholders within the Government Secure Zone. A further contributing factor to its selection was its availability which allowed the NCSC to be established at pace, within a year, providing a centre at time when there was an urgent need for the Government to increase its defensive cyber capabilities and respond to global cyber incidents like Wannacry. Nova South has provided a much-needed central focus for UK cyber security since its procurement, hosting a wide range of Government and industry partners as well as contributing to our global commitment to cyber security and the UK’s ranking as number one by the Global Cybersecurity Index.